Middle East Wasting Treated Sewage Effluent

The Middle East wastes treated sewage effluent by discharging it into the ocean even though it could be reused, a new report says.

Between 40 and 60 percent of the Middle East’s wastewater "is discharged into the sea when the treated sewage effluent could be stored in aquifers and reused for more water-efficient purposes," Bloomberg Businessweek reported, citing a new paper from Dutch engineering and consulting firm Arcadis NV.

Instead of focusing on conservation, the Middle East needs to stop wasting treated sewage effluent, the Arcadis’ 2014 Middle East Aquifer Recharge report said.

"There should be an even greater drive not to let treated sewage effluent, TSE, go to waste,” it said, per Bloomberg.

Policymakers will have to significantly change their approach to reused water in order to begin salvaging wasted treated sewage effluent.

“TSE can and should be recycled but this requires a change in thinking from being a choice and cost to a necessity and investment,” the Arcadis report said, per Bloomberg.

"The solution is either direct or indirect reuse of TSE, with indirect preferred and acceptable as there is an environmental buffer that also acts as storage whereas direct use cannot store water without building huge reservoirs if there is no immediate need,” the Arcadis report said, per Bloomberg.

Titia De Mes, a water industry expert at ARCADIS, explained how policy changes could make water use in the Middle East more efficient.

“The region should use treated sewage effluent as the precious resource it is and stop thinking of it as waste or a useless by-product,” De Mes said, per an Arcadis release. “TSE can and should be recycled."

The report highlighted three options for improved aquifer policies: aquifer storage and recovery; aquifer storage transfer and recovery and aquifer recharge and recovery.

"The different techniques involve water that is re-injected back into the aquifer for later recovery whether it is used by a single well, stored for a prolonged period and pumped through another well, enabling natural treatment or built with infrastructure or an existing landscape, such as a wadi, to enhance groundwater infiltration, also enabling natural treatment," the release said.

The approach of individual countries in the Middle East varies significantly.

"The report highlights the key discrepancy of TSE planning and implementation across the GCC countries. Abu Dhabi and Doha are currently pumping excess desalinated water in the aquifer to act as emergency storage whereas other key cities are still in the middle of research for the use of TSE," the release noted.

The Middle East faces sizable water challenges.

"Water resources are becoming increasingly scarce, especially for the millions there who already lack access to sanitary water. Some of these countries, including Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, are facing unique problems that require global, immediate attention. Beside their neighboring location, one shared factor of all these countries is their lack of water resources and poor water management," The Water Project, a non-profit sustainability project, reported.